The upscale shopping district of Omotesando in Tokyo was lit up for the Christmas-New Year season on Monday night for the first time in 11 years. A total of 630,000 LED bulbs decorate 138 zelkova trees along the one-kilometer route from Omotesando subway station to the main entrance to Meiji Shrine.
During the 1990s, the boulevard was a popular spot at Christmas and was lit up long before other places in Toyko got into the act. But concerns over the environmental impact of the lights on the trees and complaints from some retailers that crowds on the sidewalk blocked the entrance to their stores forced the light display to be discontinued in 1998.
© Japan Today
31 Comments
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XXXXX
Zelkova trees...interesting
Molenir
Agreed.
More on topic, I like Christmas lights. Always seems to make the place sparkle. Brings a warm feeling, despite the cold.
dolphingirl
You don't need to go totally overboard to create a nice mood. Lights are good! Just got some LED lights for our apartment. Looks really cool.
seesaw
Yay! the lights are back! hopefully no more complaints this time..:)
Dewaashita
Sarge, in spades!
Lostrune 2, I agree!
I just call them seasonal lights.
Sarge
Very pretty!
noborito
As Christmas draws closer and more people flock to Omotesando to look at the lights, let's close the street to allow people to enjoy them in comfort. Solves everyone's problems. Good for business.... *o not really seeing most of those stores close at 7pm 9 at the latest.
marushka
so beautiful, would love to see it
taj
Perhaps we should just call them "solstice lights" or "dark of winter lights" and forget the almost completely unconnected religion bit.
I used to work in the area and really hated this season. It would be so crowded you couldn't get out the door or move down the sidewalk to try to work your way home. Sure was beautiful but 5 days a week for weeks on end was a bit much to take. Hopefully now there are enough other places in the city that do the big light up that it won't return to quite that level.
Artius
Anybody worried about C02 and global warming/climate change should lead by example and shut their mouths and stop breathing.
Think of all the C02 being released with all that whining going on! Heavens!
lostrune2
Holiday goodwill: priceless
Elbuda Mexicano
God almighty! What was my life with out the Christmas lights down in Ometasando for the last 11 years!!! Hallelujah! Time to PARTY!
roomtemperature
OMG, this is about Christmas lights, people!!! Nothing much to whine about, I'd say. But no....someone here manages it to link this to an ice breaking vessel so at least a negative spin can be given to it. Classic!!!
sharky1
Looks very nice...I like to see people enjoying Christmas, for whatever their reason...Lights would look real cool in the snow! BTW cause for the Arctic ice melt has been determined to be too many ice breaking research vessels...go figure...
thedeath
lol yeah look at arctic and antarctic today. it's getting cooler now a day!
jason6
Hey "Global Warming" has been proven to be false, so don't worry about the environment and you can all start buying SUVs again.
gyouza
The article doesn;t mention it, but another [good] reason to shut the lights down was the awful traffic jams caused by cars queuing on Route 246 and in Harajuku to drive down Omote Sando. Absolutely locked up, I can recall trying to pass through and not knowing what the cause was.
Hundreds of couples in cars "cruising".
Just think of the CO2 output from all that!!
That is something I hope doesn't return.
cactusJack
CO2 was produced to manufacture the lights and package them and transport them and install them and take them down...I guess this all doesn't count...right?
electric2004
Societymike:
60 kW times 20Yen/kWh (not 0.2 Yen/kWh) gives 1200 Yen/hour.
Then 14400 Yen for half a day and so on. Just multiply your numbers by 100.
Still reasonable.
Cheers.
gogogo
11 years, you got the number wrong my friend it is about 8 years not 11.
societymike
WHY!?! This doesn't make sense to me. It has become a tradition for many cultures and in many cases, has nothing to do with religion (thankfully). It's just evolved into a seasonal type thing and I really don't see any reason not to enjoy it.
bogva
Wow, I was there 11 years ago with my girlfriend! I didn't know it hasn't been lit up for all those years. I came permanently in Japan 10 years ago - my be we should go with now my wife to share some memories ;)
DeepAir65
impressive - still think it is a waste of time and effort in a non-Christian (or Christian even) country - I know, bah humbug!
societymike
Anyway, my above point is that they are really cheap to run. Besides, that, it's WORTH every penney because it looks beautiful!!
ebisen
mike - you're right.. For once, I myself enjoy the Christmas lights (although I'm not a Christian myself), without having to think about the CO2 emmited in the process.
societymike
630,000 LED's only consume about 60,500w or 60.5kw, so using .20 yen/kWh it would be 12.1 yen/hour, and if they are on for 12hrs a day, it would be roughly 144 yen/day, so for the month of December, it should be about 4,320 yen to run those lights. (if my sources and math were correct, probably not now that I think about it, lol)
tshirt
Most likely LED lights, which use about 10 watts for a string of 100. The older style would use 1000 watts for a string of 100.
So, you could decorate two two meter trees (well) for the same energy usage as one standard light bulb. Pretty great really, you'll see cities using a lot more of these lights in the years to come. The only drawback is many LED light strands are poorly made... they corrode and don't work after a few years; hopefully newer ones will prove to be better.
Altria
Excellent! Take a romantic walk down the boulevard, drop into Hermes to buy a scarf, dinner at Saizeriya, and then a hotel!
Eyeblack
GREAT! I love Christmas lights.
smartacus
Typically of those snooty retailers to complain. It's not as if hordes of people would have been trying to get into Cartier, Chanel and all those other fancy stores.
DeepAir65
who's paying for that? are they offsetting the electricity bill eco Japan? (sarcasm off!)